Carp Roe?

[liuzhou]

In a moment of utter madness, I picked up this 600g fish ovary in one of the local supermarkets (which doesn't sell fish!) I strongly suspect it is carp; certainly a fresh water fish.

 

 

Only when I got home did I think "What the heck do I do with this, then?"

I am no fisherman and though I've often eaten caviare, salmon roe, cod roe, lumpfish and crab roe etc., etc., But, I've never prepared it from scratch. and I've never knowingly eaten carp roe.

So, if you can please help a roe rookie. What would you do with this?

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

Steamed. 

Curry. 

Deep-fried. 

Better/easier with the membranes left on for many of the preps, keeps the roe "together". 

[liuzhou]

Yes, funnily enough, my computer has Google, too. And, astonishingly, I know how to use it, too.

 

However, I was looking for something specific to carp roe.
 

37 minutes ago, huiray said:

Better/easier with the membranes left on for many of the preps, keeps the roe "together". 

 

Yes, but that is how it came.

Edited July 9, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

However, I was looking for something specific to carp roe.

 

Ah, OK.

How about taramasalata, traditionally done with carp roe,* I believe?

I don't know for sure but I might think carp roe could be treated much the same way as cod roe?

 

When I was growing up I liked curried fish roe (that looked much like cod roe, or like what you show) in thickish sauces prepared by the various Mamak & South Indian curry houses in the place I grew up in. It was one of the few ways I liked it as a youth. Simply deep-fried was another way (or pan-fried, as my mother did), plated w/ aromatics and leafy herbs etc and/or something like fried garlic or shallots, eaten w/ other stuff & veggies & rice etc in the course of a meal.

 

*ETA: Although you'll need to cure/salt and/or smoke the roe first.

Edited July 9, 2016 by huiray (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 7/9/2016 at 2:27 AM, liuzhou said:

So, if you can please help a roe rookie. What would you do with this?

 

I only have a recipe for shad roe, and carp feed on small shad here. This recipe is from an older cook (now almost certainly deceased) who used to be head of the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star organization in NC, and it is for butter poached shad roe.

 

The recipe comes from the book "Carolina Coastline Cusine", a 512 page fundraiser book project copyright 1991. The author of this recipe is Aline W. Carter, PGM, of Whiteville Chapter No. 211:

 

Shad Roe Poached in Butter

 

1 pair shad roe

salt to taste

freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 pound butter

1 T. finely chopped parsley

lemon wedges

 

Trim off excess membranes. Don't split the pair in half. Melt butter in a small skillet with tight fitting lid. Puncture roe sacs several

times with a pin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add your roe, cover, and gently simmer about 3 minutes. Carefully turn roe with spatula. Place cover back on and let simmer 8-10 minutes. If roe hasn't split on it's own, gently separate. Place the pieces on two warm plates and spoon some butter over each serving. Dust with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

 

This is good, but shad roe or shad at all is seasonal and harder and harder to come by now. Here's a link to the only photo of cooked shad roe I can remember. This is deep fried. There used to be a really good write up of this fish camp, but Jane and Michael Stern sold out and retired and the site has been gutted.

 

 

[cdh]

Hmmm.. a problem with shad roe when they get far enough upstream  into fresh water is the roe starts tasting muddy... test for that with this carp stuff by frying a bit of it in bacon fat and see if the flavor is acceptable.  If not, maybe cold smoke it until the mud is hidden by smoke.   If a lobe fried in bacon fat tastes good, then you know one thing to do with more of it.

[liuzhou]

@Thanks for the Crepes Thanks for that. Sounds interesting.

@cdh The carp in question is pond raised/farmed and the flesh doesn't have any trace of the muddiness often associated with carp. Hopefully the roe will be the same, but I will try your bacon fat suggestion. Thanks.

Edited February 17, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[IowaDee]

Okay, here's my dumb question and it won't be the last.  What is the difference between carp and koi?  I have the impression that koi wear better clothes and carp are at the bottom of the pecking order.  We have huge grass carp in the pond but have no idea where they fit on the fish family tree.  

[liuzhou]

22 minutes ago, IowaDee said:

Okay, here's my dumb question and it won't be the last.  What is the difference between carp and koi?  I have the impression that koi wear better clothes and carp are at the bottom of the pecking order.  We have huge grass carp in the pond but have no idea where they fit on the fish family tree.  

 

Koi are highly inbred carp. Bred by humans to be decorative. There are a number of well-stocked koi carp ponds in several of the local parks here in town. There are warnings everywhere not to eat them because, pretty as they are, they are full of parasites.

 

Koi Carp in my local park.

More here.

Edited July 10, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

@IowaDee,

 

Thanks for your not so dumb question. Thanks to you and @liuzhou, I now know a whole heck of lot more than I did about carp and koi.

[ProfessionalHobbit]

On 7/8/2016 at 11:27 PM, liuzhou said:

In a moment of utter madness, I picked up this 600g fish ovary in one of the local supermarkets (which doesn't sell fish!) I strongly suspect it is carp; certainly a fresh water fish.

 

 

Only when I got home did I think "What the heck do I do with this, then?"

I am no fisherman and though I've often eaten caviare, salmon roe, cod roe, lumpfish and crab roe etc., etc., But, I've never prepared it from scratch. and I've never knowingly eaten carp roe.

So, if you can please help a roe rookie. What would you do with this?

 

 

 

Looks like the pale white cousin of shad roe.

 

Typically, I prepare shad roe by frying it in a little butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Squeeze of lemon on the side.

 

I don't know if that would work here.

 

ETA that Crepes has already addressed this issue.  Good luck and pls let us know how it tastes.

Edited July 11, 2016 by ProfessionalHobbit
addendum (log)

[Tere]

That is a weird looking object. 

 

I've had some really nice treatments of shirako in Japan using cooked rice and a hot stone bowl. I guess that might rely on the smaller, uh, unit size and the casing, but thought I'd throw it out there in case it sparked an idea?